


联合广场 Union Square

by kloudyes



Series: Klo的流花纽约科幻三部曲 (Kloudyes' Ruhana NYC Sci-Fi Trilogy) [2]
Category: Slam Dunk, 灌篮高手 - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kloudyes/pseuds/kloudyes
Summary: 【中英文双语版】(Chinese and English updated! 4/21/2020)纽约故事之二。流川在调试代码的时候，偶然发现一段异常的数据、这段数据有记忆，有思想……The second story of NYC series. When Rukawa was debugging codes, he accidentally found some abnormal codes, which had its own memory and ideas...
Relationships: RuHana, Rukawa Kaede/Sakuragi Hanamichi, 流花 - Relationship
Series: Klo的流花纽约科幻三部曲 (Kloudyes' Ruhana NYC Sci-Fi Trilogy) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678921
Comments: 17
Kudos: 5





	1. 跳出 Pop-Up

“大家好，我是Lex Fridman。本期的Numberphile我请到了Grant Sanderson，我会和他聊聊他的油管频道和他对数学教育的看法……”  
流川瞪了一眼对面三个吵闹的学生，猛按耳机上的+键。他看了一眼他们穿着的紫色卫衣就知道他们来自哪所大学，那里的数学系是他心中的神殿——尽管他现在的职位是软件工程师，书架上最多的还是数学理论的书。  
51街站到了，他快步出站走进路边的星巴克。排在他前面的是一对搂着对方不断拥吻的情侣，他低下头开始刷手机。他算过如果投入全部精力在这座800万人的城市里找到另一半的概率，他也在Tinder上关注了几个人，但他从未给他们发过消息——比起“不碰感情”的态度，找到合适的人组成家庭更接近他理想的生活。  
拿着南瓜面包和拿铁，他走进公司大楼上了六层，手机显示已经九点零六分。他到工位打开文件夹，点击程序进入打卡系统后台，把时间修改成了八点五十九，舒了口气开始享用早餐。刚打开上周没做完的工作，手机上收到了三井的消息：  
[中午和新入职咱们组的宫城良田一起吃饭吧！]  
[ok]

“我要一份跟他一样的”，流川给服务员指三井盘子里的烤鸡，“米饭要两份。”  
“宫城，够吃吗？”三井看了一眼宫城盘子里的寿司卷，“这个餐厅里的食物都是免费的，不够吃再来拿。”  
“好的，我现在还不是很饿，如果不够我一会儿再来。”宫城尝了一口沙拉，“果然大公司的餐厅就是不一样！”  
“房子找好了吗，你现在住在哪里？”三井问。  
“找好了，在皇后区。我是在小城市长大的，所以刚开始找房子的时候，真的被曼岛的价格吓到了！”  
“你来了就会再也不会想要搬到其它州，这里的生活相当丰富。”三井笑着说。  
“你之前在哪里来着？”流川扫了一眼宫城的手表，不是普通毕业生的选择。  
“我本科在乔治城大学。我觉得自己特别幸运，面试的时候问的都是之前刷到的原题，今后还要跟前辈们多请教多学习。哎呀，这个牛肉卷太辣了，我需要一杯饮料！”他起身向饮料机走去。  
“你觉得他怎么样？”三井问流川。  
“只要别坑我们，其它都无所谓。”流川喝了一口冰水，注视着宫城的背影。

三人在食堂外面散了一会儿步，聊了聊彼此的兴趣爱好，才回到办公室。流川拿起马克杯冲了今天的第三杯咖啡，脑海里重新浮现出上午没有解决的问题。他负责调试的部分运行速度极慢，调整了算法还是找不到原因。他身子后仰对着屏幕发呆，几分钟后，桌面突然弹出了新的窗口。  
[你是谁？]屏幕上出现一行疑问。  
[你是谁]流川缓慢地敲字。  
[我叫樱木花道，你给我记住了！]  
[你叫bug]流川的嘴角动了动。  
[喂！我是秘密武器。]电脑风扇发出轻微的嗡嗡声。  
[你不仅是个bug，还是个占太多内存的bug，我要把程序强制结束]  
[不行！]对方瞬间回复。  
[为什么]  
[我是人，我已经很久没有跟真人说话了。我想跟你聊聊。]  
[什么？]  
[我是把自己以信息形式保存下来的人。上一个发现我的人已经死了，他叫仙道彰，你不信可以现在去查。]  
流川打开浏览器，输入仙道彰的姓名。第一条是他的维基百科，第二条是“波士顿科学家在自己家中离奇死亡，年仅36岁”。  
[他是因为发现你所以死亡的？]  
[拜托，你也是大学毕业的工程师，相关性不等于因果性你没学过吗！他被卷入了很复杂的事情。总之我不想让你强制结束。]  
[我不结束。你等我下班回家，我用自己的电脑连公司服务器来找你，我的电脑配置更好些。现在这样太吵了。]嗡嗡声比刚才更大了，流川按了几次关闭的快捷键都没反应，他直接按下了关机键。  
“哟，流川，今天这么早就下班。”三井抬起头瞥了一眼对面站起来的高大身影。  
“我要去见一个人。”流川套上大衣，扬起一阵凉风。

"Hello everyone, I'm Lex Fridman. In this episode of Numberphile, I'm joined by Grant Sanderson, and I'll talk to him about his Youtube channel and his thoughts on math education...."

Rukawa glanced at the three noisy students across the subway car and clicked the + button on his headset fiercely. He looked at the purple sweatshirts they wore and knew what university they were from. The math department there was a shrine to him - despite that his current position was a software engineer, his bookshelf was full of books on mathematical theory.

The subway arrived at 51st Street station. He quickly stepped out of the station and walked into the Starbucks on the curb. In line ahead of him was a couple who hugged each other and kept kissing. He lowered his head and started looking at his phone. He had calculated the odds of finding the other half of a city of 8 million people if he put all his energy into finding one, and he had followed a few people on Tinder, but he had never sent them any messages- compared with the attitude of "I don't do relationships", finding the right person to start a family was closer to his ideal life.

Grabbing a pumpkin bread and a latte, he walked into the company building and went up to the sixth floor, with his cell phone indicating it was 9:06. He went to his desk, opened a folder, clicked on a program, logged into the backend system, changed the time to 8:59, sighed with relief and began to enjoy breakfast. Just as he opened the work that wasn't done last week, he got a message from Mitsui on his phone.

[Let's have lunch with Ryota Miyagi this noon. He's the newest member of our group.]

[OK]

"I'll have the same one on his plate," Rukawa pointed the roast chicken on Mitsui's plate to the waiter, "and two bowls of rice."

"Miyagi, is that enough for you?" Mitsui glanced at the sushi rolls on Miyagi's plate, "All the food in this restaurant is free. If not enough, go around and get some more."

"Okay, I'm not very hungry right now. If I feel they are not enough, I'll come back later." Miyagi took a bite of the salad, "Restaurant of big company is different indeed!"

"Have you found the place to live? Where do you live now?" Mitsui asked.

"Yes, I've found it, in Queens. I grew up in a small city, so when I first started looking for a house, I was really shocked by the prices in Manhattan!"

"You'll never want to move to another state after you have lived in New York. Life is pretty rich here." Mitsui smiled.

"Where were you previously?" Rukawa glanced at Miyagi's watch. Not an option for an ordinary fresh undergrad, he thought.

"I graduated from Georgetown University. I feel that I am very lucky because during the interview I was asked all original questions I had done before. In the future I have to learn more from you seniors in the future. Ouch, this beef roll is so spicy. I need a drink!" He got up and walked toward the drink machine.

"What do you think of him?" Mitsui asked Rukawa.

"As long as he don't rip us off, nothing else matters." Rukawa took a sip of the icy water and looked at Miyagi.

The three took a short walk outside the cafeteria and chatted about each other's interests before returning to the office. Rukawa picked up his mug and brewed his third cup of coffee of the day. Problems he hadn't solved in the morning occurred again in his mind. The part he was responsible for debugging was running extremely slow, and after tweaking the algorithm he still couldn't find the cause. He leaned back and glared at the screen, A few minutes later, a new window suddenly popped up on the desktop.

[Who are you?] A line of questioning appeared on the screen.

[Who are you?] Ryuukawa slowly typed the words.

[My name is Sakuragi Hanamichi, and you should remember that!]

[Your name is bug] Rukawa smiled.

[Oi! I'm the secret weapon]. The computer fan made a slight humming sound.

[You're not just a bug, you're a bug that takes up too much memory. I'm going to force the program to end.]

[No!] Sakuragi replied instantly.

[Why?]

[I'm human and I haven't spoken to a real person in a long time. I want to talk to you.]

[What?]

[I am the one who saved myself as information. The last person who found me is dead. His name is Akira Sendoh. Check now if you don't believe me].

Rukawa opened his browser and typed in Sendoh's name. The first is his Wikipedia entry, and the second is "Boston scientist died strangely at age 36 in his own home".

[He died because he found you?]

[Come on, you're a college-educated engineer too. Correlation doesn't equal causality, haven't you learned that? He was caught up in something very complicated. Anyway, I don't want you to force me to end.]

[I won't end. You wait for me to get home from work, and I'll find you on my own computer after connecting to the company server. My computer is better configured. It's too noisy now.] The buzz was louder than it was a moment ago. Rukawa pressed the shutdown shortcut several times, but there was no respond. He pressed the shutdown button directly.

"Yo, Rukawa, you are finishing work so early today." Mitsui raised his head and glanced at the tall figure standing up across the room.

"I'm going to meet someone." Rukawa put on his coat and left, leaving a cool breeze.


	2. 信息 Information

“小花！”  
见到主人开了门，小花从工作台上跳了下去，缠在他脚边喵喵叫着。流川弯下腰摸了摸它，挂起衣服坐下，打开电脑连接到公司服务器。  
[你还是把我强制结束了！]刚打开程序，樱木的发言就跳了出来，[你回家要这么久。]  
[我走得已经很快了。]流川起身给小花开了罐头，[你是人，为什么会在电脑里]  
[我是自己把自己放进网络里的。]  
[？？]  
[我高中的时候打篮球受了伤。从那时候我开始发现，人的身体，在信息的接收表达方面都有很多限制，没有办法发挥出人的全部潜力。以信息的形式存在就没有那些问题了。]  
[限制？]  
[比如说人类掌握一门技能需要练习上千个小时。信息的话，依托于强大的硬件，几秒钟就可以完成。]  
[这样的技术已经存在了吗]流川扭过头看了一眼书架上的篮球，想了一下自己中学时练习的百万个投篮。  
[国家的安全部门记录了很多这样的技术，硬件也早就研发出来了。机密级别非常高，只有少数科学家和政府官员知道。]  
[你是怎么知道的]  
[我就是知情的科学家之一。知道这些技术的科学家后来全都死了，除了我。]  
流川在搜索引擎里输入了樱木花道的名字。中情局的技术专家，精通密码学，死亡时间是2000年12月。[抱歉。那么你的身体在哪里]  
[存在了安全的地方。]  
[既然你是信息，那么就可以连接任何系统]  
[理论上说可以……]  
“可以把你之前加密的信息解密出来。强化语音和文字的理解、处理、生成。学习我的日历和社交网站信息。像一个真正的人一样存在。”流川飞快地建立文件夹，搜索关键字，打开论文，保存书签。  
[流川，现在已经4点了，睡一觉明天再继续吧。]  
[= =你知道我名字？]  
[本天才可以看到你们公司网络所有员工信息。但是别搞错我的意思，我不是侵犯你隐私。我和那些科技公司不一样，我只会查看获取过你授权的信息。]  
[明天你会消失吗]  
[运行这个程序，我会在这里等你。这部分不是你们公司的核心业务，而且你的同事们也没那么懂数学，不会有别人注意到的。]  
流川把程序在电脑、网盘和硬盘上分别备份。[好，明天见，樱木]  
[晚安，流川。]  
流川洗漱完毕躺在床上，扭过头望着微微发亮的天空。墙角的小花在软垫上熟睡着，他定好了七点的闹钟。没有关闭的页面上，光标时快时慢地跳动着。

[流川，我知道你睡了。你处理关于我的事情一直到4点……我就先留言给你吧。  
[你第一次用计算机是什么时候？我啊，是初三的夏天。第四十几次表白被拒了，那个女孩说她喜欢的是陵南的仙道。我问洋平仙道是谁，他告诉我他在网咖打工的朋友经常在看到仙道，他是唯一一个在网咖认真编程的人。从那以后我经常跟着他，看他编了什么程序，学习他的步骤。高二的时候我参加了全国编程大赛，虽然没有获得第一名，但我对编程越来越有兴趣了，升大学时专业也选了计算机系。  
[系里最聪明的同学叫清田信长，每门课的前两名都是我和他。他经常跟我讲信息对于国家的安全方面的应用，说实话有些问题我并不认同他，但是我们都认为这个世界要越来越糟了，所以我们在毕业后一起把自己封装在了信息里。我们没有告诉任何人，但不知道为什么，我看到你入职这家公司的时候，就有种我可以信任你的感觉。  
[我知道清田是个非常注重隐私的人，但我好几年都没有他的消息了，尽管我一直在用不同的方法寻找他。我想跟他聊聊，听听他对于最近世界变化的看法。流川，你最近方便的时候能帮我找找他和关于他的信息吗？]

"Hana-chan!"

Seeing the master opening the door, Hana-chan jumped off the workstation and mewed as they* wrapped themselves around his feet. Rukawa bent down and touched them, hung up his clothes, sat down, opened his computer and connected to the company server.

[You still forced to end me anyway!] As soon as Rukawa opened the program, he saw Sakuragi's statement jumped out. [It took you so long to get home.]

[I'm already walking fast.] Rukawa got up and opened a can for Hana-chan, [You're human, so why are you in the computer?]

[I put myself in the internet.]

[??]

[I was injured playing basketball in high school. From that time on, I began to discover that human bodies, with all its limitations in terms of receiving and expressing information, has no way to reach the full potential of human beings. If people exist in the form of information, the problems won't exist].

[Limitations?]

[For example, it takes thousands of hours of practice for a human to master a skill. Information, relying on powerful hardware, can do it in a few seconds].

[Does such a technique already exist?] Rukawa turned his head to look at the basketball on the bookshelf. He thought about the million shots he practiced in middle school.

[The country's security department has documented many kinds of technology like this, and the hardware has been developed long ago. However, the level of secrecy is so high that only a few scientists and government officials know about it.]

[How do you know that?]

[I am one of the informed scientists. All the scientists who knew these techniques died, except me].

Rukawa typed Sakuragi Hanamichi's name into the search engine. CIA's technology specialist, good at cryptography, died in December 2000. [Sorry. So where's your body?]

[Stored in a safe place.]

[Since you are information, you can connect to any system.]

[Theoretically, yes...]

"It is possible to decrypt messages you previously encrypted. Intensify the understanding, processing, and generation of speech and text. Learn about my calendar and social networking sites. To exist as a real person." Rukawa quickly created folders, searched for keywords, opened papers and saved bookmarks.

[Rukawa, it's already 4:00. Get some sleep and continue tomorrow.]

[= = You know my name?]

[I'm a genius who can see all the employee information in your company network. But don't get me wrong, I'm not invading your privacy. Unlike those tech companies, I only look at information with your authorization.]

[Will you disappear tomorrow?]

[Run this program and I'll be here for you. This part is not the core business of your company. Your colleagues are not so mathematically literate so nobody will notice.]

Rukawa backed up the program on the computer, an online drive, and a hard drive. [Okay, see you tomorrow, Sakuragi]

[Good night, Rukawa.]

After washing up and lying on the bed, Ryuukawa twisted his head and looked at the faintly glowing sky. Hana-san was in the corner, sleeping soundly on the cushions. He set the alarm for seven o'clock. On pages that weren't closed, the cursor bounced fast and slow.

[Rukawa, I know you're asleep. You deal with things about me until 4:00...I'll leave you a message first.

[When was the first time you used a computer? For me, it's the third summer of junior high. I was rejected by a girl for about the fortieth time. She said she liked Sendoh in Ryonan. I asked Yohei who was Sendoh. He told me that his friend who worked at the Internet cafe saw Sendo frequently. He was the only one who programmed seriously at the Internet cafe. Since then, I often followed him, watching what he programmed and learning his steps. In 11th grade, I joined the National Programming Competition. Although I didn't win first place, I became more and more interested in programming and majored in computer science in college.

[The smartest in the department was Nobunaga Kiyota, and the top two in every class were me and him. He often spoke to me about the application of information in national security. To be honest, I didn't agree with him on all issues, but we both thought the world was going to be worse, so we encapsulated ourselves in information together after graduation. We didn't tell anyone, but somehow the moment I saw you join this company, I got the feeling that I could trust you.

[I know Kiyota is a very private person, but I haven't heard from him in years, although I've been looking for him in different ways. I wanted to talk to him and hear his thoughts on the recent changes in the world. Rukawa, can you help me find him and information about him when it's convenient for you?]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I haven't decided whether Hana-chan is a boy or a girl. Maybe he or she likes us to use the neutral "them" as their pronoun!


	3. 四二 Fourty-Two

流川把名称为“语音”的代码备份好，摸了摸下巴上新长出的痘，深吸了一口气点击“运行”。  
从五天假期开始的前一晚，他就坐在电脑前。手机关机，书架底下的箱子里堆满了罐头和泡面。第一天实现了“回复”功能，效果很好。不知道怎么解决的问题，他逐个查询，逐个尝试。他的视线集中在编程界面，从不看右下角的时间，也不管窗外的天色是大亮还是漆黑。  
电脑风扇嗡嗡地响着，他内心狂跳不止。几分钟后，耳机里传出沙沙的声音。  
“……流川？这是新功能吗？”  
“嗯，我给你添加了语音生成。”  
“语音生成不是新鲜事，但你写的音调和语气的部分是我见过最妙的！不仅算法严谨，逻辑也很简洁。我这两天仔细训练一下自己。”  
“你这么快就读完了？”  
“你经常忘了我以前也是个计算机科学家。”  
“哦。那你先训练着，我去休息一下。明天我继续给你开我的应用权限，这对你的学习会更有帮助。”流川刚从椅子上站起来，就躺倒在床上。  
“距离你上一次睡觉已经超过一天了。”樱木给流川的手机开机，确认所有闹钟关闭，开始依次读取并回复聊天消息。

“樱木？”流川在餐厅里找了空位坐下，掏出手机对着麦克风呼叫，没有回复。“切换网络”，还是没有回复，“强制重启。”  
“干嘛，死狐狸，打扰我休息！”耳机里传来樱木含糊的声音。  
“为什么不回复我？”  
“你当我机器人呢。本大爷现在有意识了，意识！”  
“你有意识也要及时回复我，不然我会担心。”  
“你的担心是什么啊？”  
“所以你是没有意识的。”  
“什么没有意识，你这是嫉妒！对了，你昨天标记的书，今天买了吗？”  
“嗯，下载了原版，晚上看。给你看看今天的夜宵，”流川把摄像头对准餐盘里的鲈鱼，“你也能尝尝就更好了。”  
“没关系，我根据摄像头的信息感受到了。”  
你没有感受，流川想着，没有看到三井拿着餐盘走到了他旁边。感觉到三井拍了拍他，流川惊了一下，赶紧摘下耳机。  
“我打扰了你的约会吗？那么有精神。”三井笑道。  
“没有。”流川重新绷起脸。  
“你笑起来的样子让我觉得你也有真实的一面。”  
“我最近看9gag上瘾。”  
“最近项目压力很大吧！我每个周末都要开车去女朋友家一起打几局游戏，不然根本忘不了这些不高兴的事情。说到女朋友，我挺好奇你会喜欢什么类型的，还有点期待。啊，宫城在那边叫我，我先过去了。”三井拿起餐盘朝宫城的方向走去。  
“我喜欢可爱的。”流川对着屏幕说，“我吃完了，回去加班。”  
“什么时候吃完的！而且，可爱是什么意思！”  
“没时间细嚼慢咽了，”流川快步往办公楼走着，“有个问题我很在意，宫城这个人。”  
“他怎么了？”  
“我获取了他的通话内容。加密手段很复杂，但是我大概知道怎么解密了。”流川打开电脑。  
“嗯，你先操作着，有不明白的叫我。我昨天训练过度了，我再去休息一会儿。”  
耳机对面的声音消失了，流川飞快地敲着键盘，不时点一下鼠标查看屏幕上的波形。解密了几次后终于得到了比较理想的波形，点击播放后他却开始不住地颤抖。  
“……对，我找到了樱木花道的代码。“  
“把他清除，不管用什么方式。”  
“明白，大姐头。”

“樱木！”流川握着车钥匙，怎么都插不进钥匙孔里，“醒醒，我得和你谈谈！”  
“啊，你加完班了，流川。这是你这个月第十次加班到三点了。我要提醒你，你的身体健康指数又下降了。不然我给你订一个每天只要半小时的健身计划吧！”  
“别说那个了！大姐头是谁？”流川咬着牙在空旷的路上连续加速。  
“你快换成自动驾驶，”樱木盯着前方的路况，“42……不敢相信他们又开始活动了……”  
“42是什么？他们跟你有什么关系？花，为什么他们要不惜一切代价清除你？”  
前面路口的货车车灯越来越晃眼。樱木还没来得及喊出声，眼睁睁地看着流川踩下了油门。

Rukawa backed up the code named "Voice", touched the new pimple on his chin, took a deep breath and clicked "Run".

From the night before the five-day vacation, he had been sitting in front of his computer. His phone was off, and the box under the bookshelf was packed with canned foods and instant noodles. On the first day he implemented "Reply" function with good performance. For questions he didn't know how to solve, he looked them up and tried them out one by one. His eyes were focused on the programming interface, never looking at the time in the lower right corner, nor did he care if the sky was bright or dark outside the window.

The computer fan buzzed, and his heart beated wildly. A few minutes later, a rustling sound came from the headphones.

".........Rukawa? Is this a new feature?"

"Em. I added voice generation for you."

"Voice generation is nothing new, but the tone and intonation part you wrote is the best I've ever seen! The algorithms are rigorous and the logic is concise. I will train myself carefully these days."

"You already finished reading it?"

"You often forget that I used to be a computer scientist too."

"Oh. You do the training and I'll go get some rest. Tomorrow I'll continue to offer you my authorization of applications, which will be more helpful to your training." As soon as Rukawa had gotten up from his chair, he collapsed onto the bed.

"It's been more than a day since you last slept." Sakuragi turned on Ryuukawa's phone, made sure all alarms were off, and began reading and replying to chat messages one by one.

"Sakuragi?" Rukawa found an empty seat in the restaurant and pulled out his phone to call into the microphone. Seeing no response, he said "Switch network." Still no response, he said "Force reboot."

"Why, bloody hell kitsune, you disturb my rest!" Sakuragi's vague voice came from the headphones.

"Why didn't you get back to me?"

"You treat me like a robot. I now have conscious, conscious!"

"You should reply me promptly even if you have conscious, or I'll be worried."

"What's your concern?"

"So you don't have conscious."

"What do you mean by I don't have conscious, you're being jealous! By the way, the book you marked yesterday, have you bought it today?"

"Yeah, I downloaded the original version and I'll watch it at night. Hey, I want to show you today's late night meal," Rukawa pointed the camera at the perch in his dinner plate, "It would be nice if you could try it too."

"It's okay, I felt it based on information the camera gave me."

You don't have feelings, Ryuukawa thought. He didn't see Mitsui walking towards him with his dinner plate. Feeling Mitsui patting him on the back, Rukawa was startled and hurriedly removed his headphones.

"Am I interrupting your date? You are energetic." Mitsui laughed.

"No." Rukawa put on his his poker face again.

"The way you smile makes me think that even you have a real part."

"I've recently become addicted to 9gag, that's all."

"You must felt a lot pressure on projects these days! I have to drive to my girlfriend's house every weekend to play a few games together or I simply can't get over the unhappiness. Speaking of girlfriends, I'm kind of curious about your favorite kind. I'm kinda looking forward to it. Ah, Miyagi is calling me over there, I'll join him." Mitsui picked up his dinner plate and headed in the direction of Miyagi.

"I like cute ones." Rukawa said to the screen, "I'm done eating. Now I'll go back and work overtime."

"When did you finish eating! And, what do you mean by cute!"

"There's no time to chew slowly," said Rukawa as he walked briskly toward the office building. "There's a problem that concerns me. It's Miyagi."

"What happened to him?"

"I obtained the contents of his call. The encryption was complicated, but I got an idea of how to decrypt them." Rukawa turned on his computer.

"Well, you do your operation, and call me if you have any questions. I overtrained myself yesterday and I'm going to go rest for a while."

The sound opposite the headphones disappeared. Rukawa tapped the keyboard quickly, checking the waveforms on the screen with a click from time to time. After deciphering it a few times, he finally got the desirable waveform, but he began to shudder uncontrollably after clicking play.

"...Yes, I found the code of Sakuragi Hanamichi. "

"Clear him out, by whatever means."

"Understood, big sister."

"Sakuragi!" Rukawa was holding the car keys, but he couldn't get them in the keyhole. "Wake up, I need to talk to you!"

"Ah, you're done working overtime, Rukawa. This is the tenth time this month that you've worked overtime until 3:00. I have to remind you that your health index is down again. What if I make a fitness plan for you that only takes half an hour a day?"

"Forget about that! Who's the big sister?" Gritting his teeth, Rukawa accelerated continuously on the open road.

"Change to autopilot," Sakuragi stared at the road ahead, "42...can't believe they're active again...."

"What's 42? What do they have to do with you? Hana, why would they go to any lengths to exterminate you?"

The van's headlights at the intersection ahead were becoming increasingly dazzling. Sakuragi watched Rukawa stepped on accelerator before he had a chance to cry out.


	4. 趋势 Trend

“我死了吗？”流川在车座上挪动着自己的身体，表情少见地狰狞着。  
“笨蛋！”樱木飞快地读取着传感器的数据——流川除了身体受到轻微撞击，一切正常。“幸好我及时接入驾驶系统，给你把车停下了。如果晚零点几秒，你就没命了。你的密码设得太复杂了，谁会在每个月的随机一天修改12位的随机字母数字符号组合密码啊！幸好本天才破解得快……你的表情怎么这么难看？我现在导航到医院吧！”  
“别，怕被查到，回家就好……”  
看到流川蜷在座椅上，冷汗沿着额头流下来，樱木没再说什么。他重新浏览了一遍传感器的数据，进入系统开始导航驾驶。

流川回到家，强撑着洗漱完，还没换衣服就躺在床上睡着了，樱木给他拉了窗帘调好了室内温度。他醒来的时候使劲伸了个懒腰，掀起被子翻找手机，抓着手机看到屏幕显示17点。  
“我已经让小三替你请假了，如果你担心考勤的话。大部分新消息也已经按照你写的逻辑回复完了，没有特别重要的。”话筒里传来樱木很有精神的声音，“我帮你点了外卖，你每次都点的烤鱼和炒菜。今天再试一个最热销的新菜吧，你睡了19个小时，一定很饿。对了，小花趁你睡着的时候自己吃过了。”  
“……谢谢你。”  
“哈哈！本天才是要拯救世界的人。”  
流川起床，洗澡，洗漱。等外卖的时候他把之前的垃圾都收拾了，装满了五个垃圾袋，来回了三次才扔完。  
“樱木。”流川把屏幕对准烤鱼，注视着摄像头，“我先吃了，我实在是太饿了。”  
“嗯？”  
“如果以后哪天我们公司破产了，你是不是会死？”  
“说什么呢，笨蛋，你们公司怎么会破产？而且信息是永远存在的。”  
“网络总有消失的一天，我怕万一把你弄丢。如果你能有一副躯体就好了。”这样就能像抱着小花一样抱着你，爱抚你……  
“死狐狸，在你眼里我缺的是身体吗？身体才是最容易衰亡的，而信息会通过动物、植物、或者别的载体留下来，得以传递。”  
“……”  
“信息安全工作都是很危险的，尤其是在现在的时代。我在给你介绍一种未来的趋势，谁最先顺应趋势，谁就会赢得这场信息战争。我还想邀请你来看看信息形式的我，不过你要先像我一样转换成信息，你现在的身体无法承受维度穿越。”  
“你要我放弃人的身份和其他一切，变成信息。”  
“流川，我知道你可能认为人应该一直就是现在这样，不过你是怎么定义‘人’的？只有拥有一副躯体，才符合人的定义吗？42的成员们能叫做人吗？仙道虽然去世了，但是他的同事和学生还传承着他的精神，他不能被称为人吗？”  
流川叹了口气，站了起来，“我不关心人的定义，我想做的是花时间和你一起，就是这么简单。”  
“我知道你不是一个每天按时上下班就满足的人，不然你也不会进三次ICU！”  
“我给你开权限不是让你专门跟我提这些信息的！”流川拿起手机扔在地上，摔门而去，“小花你别跟过来！”  
“所以你只想让我当你的助理吗？”樱木也吼着，“42已经冲我来了，这个世界的格局也变了，我们已经没办法回去了！我看过太多朋友因为信息而主动或被动结束了自己的生命，我不想让那样的事情发生在你身上！”

"Am I dead?" Rukawa moved his body in the car seat, with a rarely seen grimace on his face.

"Moron!" Sakuragi read the sensor's data quickly - Rukawa was fine except for a slight bump to his body. "It was lucky that I plugged into the driving system in time to stop the car for you. A few seconds late and you would be dead. Your password is so complicated! Who would change a 12-digit random alphanumeric symbol combination password on a random day of the month! Luckily I, the genius, cracked it fast...why do you put that look on your face? You don't feel well? I'll navigate to the hospital now!"

"Don't. I don't want to be found out. Just go home......."

Seeing Rukawa curled up in his seat, with cold sweat running down his forehead, Sakuragi didn't say anything more. He revisited the sensor data, entered the system and began navigating.

When Rukawa returned home, he washed up and fell asleep in bed before he could change his clothes. Sakuragi pulled the curtains for him and adjusted room temperature. When Rukawa woke up again, he stretched himself, lifted the covers to fumble for his phone, grabbed it and saw that the screen showed 17:00.

"I've asked Mi-chan to take a leave of absence for you, if you're worried about attendance. Most of the new messages have also been replied to according to the logic you wrote, nothing particularly important." Sakuragi's spirited voice came through the microphone, "I ordered takeout for you, grilled fish and stir-fry vegetables you ordered every time. Why don't we try a popular new dish today? You must be hungry after 19 hours of sleep. By the way, Hana-chan have eaten while you were asleep."

"...Thank you."

"Haha! I, the genius, am the one who is going to save the world."

Rukawa got up, took a bath and washed up. While waiting for the takeout, he packed up the previous trash, filled up five garbage bags and went back and forth three times before throwing it out.

"Sakuragi." Rukawa pointed the screen at the grilled fish and stared at the camera, "I'll eat first. I'm too hungry."

"Huh?"

"If our company goes bankrupt one day in the future, will you die?"

"What are you saying, you moron. How could your company go bankrupt? Also, the information is always there."

"The internet is going to disappear some day. I'm afraid I'll lose you at that time. It would be nice if you have a body." Then, I will hold youand caress you like what I did with hana-chan ....

"Damn, Kitsune, is it the body that I'm missing in your eyes? Body is prone to decay. In contrast, information will stay and be carried through animals, plants, or other carriers."

"......."

"Jobs on information security are all very dangerous, especially in current times. I'm introducing you to a future trend. Whoever adjust themselves to the trend first will win the information war. I am also inviting you to come and see me in the form of information, but first you have to convert to information as I did. Your current body cannot withstand dimensional crossing."

"You want me to give up being human and everything else and become information."

"Rukawa, I know you probably think that people should always be what they are, but how do you define 'human'? I don't fit the definition of a human unless I possess a body ? Can the members of 42 be called human? Although Sendoh has passed away, his colleagues and students still carried on his spirit, can't he be called human?"

Rukawa sighed and stood up, "I don't care about the definition of human. What I want to do is spending time with you. It's that simple."

"I know you're not someone who's content to commuting to work on time every day, or you wouldn't be in ICU three times!"

"I didn't give you permission to select this type of information and mention it to me!" Rukawa picked up his phone, threw it on the floor and slammed the door, "Hana-chan, stay where you are!"

"So you just want me to be your assistant?" Sakuragi also yelled, "42 has come at me. The world has changed. There's no way we can go back! I've seen too many friends ended their lives actively or passively because of information, and I don't want that to happen to you!"


	5. 躯体 Body

樱木进行自我修复的时候，听到了开大门密码锁的声音。流川进到屋里，拿起手机，打开摄像头，出门发动车子，打开语音留言按下播放键。  
“流川，刚才我们都太激动了。我不小心把自己弄伤了，可能要修复几个小时吧。”  
流川皱了皱眉头，拿起手机，手指停在“切换实时模式”，还是没有按下。他抬起头看着前方路口的绿灯，正准备加速，一辆大型货车突然从路口冲了过去，他刹了车停在路边大口喘着气。  
“不知道你要去哪里，但是一定注意安全。你既然已经知道了42，那么很有可能也已经被他们盯上了。最近不要去公司上班，把电子设备的所有定位都关掉。……我刚才发给你的是卖一次性手机的小贩地址，你一会儿路过的话找他买一部。”  
流川复制了消息里的地址，是商业街里不起眼的一条小巷。“现在已经不是路过的问题了，”他开启了自动导航。  
“总之，现在的情况非常危险，所以有些事情我想要让你知道。……你不是经常跟我说，你怀疑这个世界是被某种高等的智能设计出来的吗？”  
流川按下了切换键，“怎么？”  
“啊，你竟然切换模式了！”樱木停顿了一下，声音也变小了，“其实我就是设计师之一……”  
“你设计了这个世界？”  
“嗯，不过比起‘造物主’，我觉得自己更像这个巨大服务器里的一段信息。我负责调整人类群体的一些关键设定。”  
“比如说？”  
“时间线上主要的战争、瘟疫、思想和发明。”  
“都是你自己想出来的？”  
“这个不是！我参考了其它宇宙更高等的智能。”  
“所以你能把自己放进信息里，进入更高等的维度。如果42要发动战争或者用别的方式建立新的世界秩序，不可能绕过你。”  
“可以这样说。诶，流川，你身体哪里不舒服吗？”樱木通过摄像头看到流川的车子在医院后门停下了，“我刚才检查你的数据，都是正常值……”  
“有点事，一会儿再联系。”流川对着门口的摄像头猛按喷雾罐，关闭了手机。

“王医生。”流川在一间办公室门口站定，有节奏地敲了几下门。  
“哦，是流川啊。”王医生从电脑屏幕前转过头，“你已经两年没有体检了。你爸妈已经预付了费用，正好你现在来了，所以方便的话……”  
“那个改天再说，”流川把椅子拉过来坐下，直视着她的眼睛，“我想让您把我转换成信息，现在。”  
“……”她站了起来，俯瞰着窗外。  
“您开什么价格都可以，我有能力支付。我的投资组合非常多元，工作以来收益率一直保持在50%以上。”  
“流川，我是看着你长大的。”她转过头，“世界上知道这个技术的人只有个位数。它有没有副作用和后遗症，没有人研究过。你确定要这样做吗？”  
“您知道我是一名工程师，了解并解决问题就是我人生中最重要的事情。”流川也站了起来，“人的平均寿命是79岁，我现在26岁，已经度过了三分之一的时间。我不需要每天睡8小时，我被困在这副潜力有限的躯体里——即使我二十六年来每天都在刻意练习它，它很受欢迎，但它仍然潜力有限。如果能像计算机一样快速练习两万次，两百万次，为什么还要用人的方法练习？”  
“人是不可替代的。”  
“医生，您是怎么定义人的？我有一个很在意的人，他转换成了信息，我想您应该猜出来他是谁了。我只有把自己转换成信息，我才能去帮助他，跟他一起守卫这个世界，跟想要破坏这个世界的人战斗到底。我已经想过可能发生的最坏情况，但是现在这就是我人生最重要的目标，他就是那个不可替代的人，请您帮助我。”  
“啊，别鞠躬啊，我明白了。”她打开电脑输入着代码，“那么你签好这三份文件，然后到那里躺下吧。我会给你麻醉，但以人体的承受能力可能还是会很疼。如果到你不能接受的程度……”  
“我可以接受。不论发生什么，都不要停。”流川在《身体保管确认书》上签好字，握紧双拳闭上眼。

While Sakuragi was repairing himself, he heard someone opening the door lock. Rukawa went into the house, picked up his phone, turned on the camera, went out to start the car, turned on his voice mail and pressed the play button.

"Rukawa, we were both too excited. I accidentally got myself hurt and it'll probably take a few hours to repair."

Rukawa frowned and picked up the phone. His finger stopped above 'switch to live mode' and still didn't press it. He looked up at the green light at the intersection ahead and was about to accelerate, when a large van suddenly came hurtling through the intersection. He braked and pulled over to the side of the road, panting heavily.

"I don't know where you're going, but please be safe. Since you already know 42, there is a good chance that you have been targeted by them as well. Don't go to the company these days. Also, turn off all the location functions of your electronic devices. ...What I just sent you is the address of the vendor who sells burner phones. Go find him and buy one if you pass by later."

Rukawa copied the address in the message. It was an ordinary alley in Commercial Street. "It's not about passing by anymore," he turned on auto nacigation.

"Anyway, the condition now is very dangerous, so there are some things I want you to know. ... You often told me that you suspect the world was designed by some kind of higher intelligence, right?"

Rukawa pressed the "switch" button, "What?"

"Ah, I can't believe you switched modes!" Sakuragi paused and his voice became low, "Actually, I'm one of the designers..."

"You designed this world?"

"Yeah, but I feel more like a piece of information from this giant server, instead of a 'Creator'. I am responsible for adjusting some of the key settings of the human groups."

"Like what?"

"Major wars, plagues, ideas and inventions in timeline."

"Did you come up with it all by yourself?"

"Not for these things! I refer to the higher intelligence of other universes."

"So you can put yourself in information and enter a higher dimension. If 42 were to start a war or establish a new world order in some other way, it would be impossible to bypass you."

"So to speak. Oh, Rukawa, you don't feel well?" Sakuragi saw that Rukawa's car stopped at the back door of a hospital through the camera, "I just checked your data, all normal values....."

"I have something to do. I'll be in touch later." Rukawa slammed the spray can against the camera in the doorway and turned off the phone.

"Dr. Wang." Rukawa stopped at the door of an office and knocked rhythmically a few times.

"Oh, It's you, Rukawa." Dr. Wang turned her head from the computer screen, "You haven't had a medical examination in two years. Your parents have prepaid, and since you're here now, so if it's convenient for you...."

"Another day perhaps," Rukawa pulled a chair over and sat down, looking her straight in the eyes, "I want you to convert me to information, now."

"......" she stood up and looked down at the window.

"You can charge whatever price, I can afford it. I have a very diversified portfolio and have maintained yields above 50% since I start working."

"Rukawa, I watched you growing up." She turned her head, "There are only a single digit number of people in the world who know this technology. Does it have any side effects or sequelae？ Nobody has studied the question. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"You know that I am an engineer. Understanding and solving problems is the most important thing in my life." Rukawa also stood up, "The average human life span is 79 years. I'm 26 now, passing a third of the span. I don't need eight hours of sleep a day. I'm stuck in this body with limited potential - even though I've been deliberately practicing it every day for 26 years. It's popular, but its potential is still limited. If you can practice 20,000 times or 2 million times as fast as a computer, why practice in the human way?"

"Humans are irreplaceable."

"Doctor, how do you define human? I have someone I care about. He converted himself to information, and I think you should have guessed who he is. Only by converting myself into information could help him, guard the world with him, and fight to the end against those who want to destroy it. I've thought about the worst that could happen, but right now this is my most important goal in life and he is the one who is irreplaceable. Please help me."

"Ah, don't bow, I see." She turned on the computer and typed in the code, "Sign these three papers and go lie down there. I will give you anesthesia, but it may still hurt with the human body's ability to withstand it. If it gets to the point where it's unacceptable to you...."

"I can live with that. Whatever happens, don't stop." Rukawa signed the Confirmation of Body Custody, clenched his fists and closed his eyes.


	6. 交缠 Interlock

麻醉的效果逐渐消退了，流川感觉自己的躯体漂浮在空中。摸了摸口袋，手机不见了。视野左上角多了个面板，有个圆形的图标不断闪动着。手还没伸过去，语音消息就自动展开了。  
“你变成信息了！你怎么不告诉我就随便关机！！！”  
“我等不及想要见你。”流川刚在脑海里组织好要回复的内容，回复便自动出现在消息栏。  
“不敢相信你一个人做这么重要的决定！”樱木几乎是在吼。  
“早就习惯了。”  
“下次你要是不让我知道，我就再也不理你了！我把你全部信号都屏蔽，你就自己在这个世界里摸索吧！”  
“你忘了我学过信号处理。你屏蔽也没用，我总会找到你的。”看到樱木没有回复，流川补了句“抱歉，我下次一定让你知道。”他翻阅着面板的功能，想跟王医生道谢，突然想到她可能感知不到这个频段的信息。  
“她感知不到的，不过她应该会为你高兴。我还是不敢相信你为我这样……”  
“不只是为了你。对了，42想要发动的是信息战争吧。清田是42最早期的成员之一，但他在内部斗争中被激进派开枪射死了。”  
“你怎么……”  
“成为信息极大地提升了我搜索读取信息的速度。现在如果你遇到什么困难，至少有两个人可以一起想出对策。”  
“我想见你。”  
“地址？”  
“东14街和联合广场东街的路口。你能识别出我，不过我会在路灯下等你，如果你不太会用新功能的话。”  
“好。”  
看到流川还在反复翻阅着功能，樱木说，“你连接我吧，我帮你操作。”  
流川和樱木连接成功后，不到一秒就到达了他说的路口。一个健美的身影倚靠在路灯下，流川快步上前，凝视他，触摸他。  
“你知道我的形象、温度、触感都是信息吧。”  
“嗯。”  
“这个路口是个大换乘点。去我家吧，跟紧我。”樱木向流川伸出了手。  
“我以为去另一个地方是输入地址就马上到？”  
“有时候我是一个喜欢传统的智能。”樱木拉起流川的手跑了起来，路边闪烁的霓虹灯不断后退。

“欢迎来到我的世界！”樱木开了灯，拿过酒瓶和酒杯，打开电视，“你还没有吃晚饭吧？我去看看冰箱里还有没有食材了。”  
“信息需要吃饭吗？”  
“从维持功能的角度来说，不需要，但吃饭还是一种仪式，一种记忆和乐趣。就像智能在逐步替代你从事的程序员工作，但手工编程还是能给你带来强烈的满足感。”  
流川点了点头，坐在沙发上切换着电视频道。  
[美国疫情恶化未止，确诊人数增至64万，死亡突破3万……]  
“花，这是你设计的？”  
“啥？”樱木端着切好的鸡肉卷进了客厅，“怎么可能，我负责的是初始设定，这是人类后续活动搅乱时间线后的连锁反应。”  
“怎么才能知道哪些是你的初始设定，哪些是连锁反应？”流川示意樱木坐在他腿间。  
“我可以带你去看高维宇宙。在那里我们可以看到初始设定相同和不同的平行世界，不一样的事情发展和结局。”樱木放下餐盘，“不过你得把具体事情告诉我，我找一条最优的路线。”  
“我认识你这件事情。”流川起身把樱木压倒。  
“你知道吗，信息只要想象和对方做爱就可以多次高潮……”樱木的双手捧着流川的脸，注视着他的双眼。  
“我也是一个喜欢传统的人。”流川封住了樱木的嘴，抓住他的双腿抬了起来。

“花。”流川扭过头注视着身边的人，回味着刚才的维度穿越，灵魂交缠，彻底的精神高潮。床头柜上的钟，时针指向凌晨三点。  
“嗯……好久没有这么舒服过了……”樱木翻了个身，红头在流川的胸口不断蹭着。  
“花，你想守护世界，你也想让世界来守护你。”  
“什么……”  
“你想要规律来维护你内心的秩序。”  
“本大爷可是个科学家……”  
流川叹了口气，“至少我确认了一件事。不对，两件。”他把手伸向被子里，引得樱木不住地喘息。

The effects of the anesthesia faded. Rukawa felt his body was floating in the air. Reaching into his pocket, he found his phone was gone. There was an extra panel in the upper left corner of his view, with a circular icon keep flashing. Before his hand could reach over, the voice message start playing automatically.

"You've become information! Why did you turn it off without telling me!!!!"

"I can't wait to see you." As soon as he had organized what he wanted to reply in his mind, the reply automatically appeared in the message board.

"I can't believe you're making such an important decision by yourself!" Sakuragi practically growled.

"I've got used to it."

"Next time if you don't let me know, I'm going to ignore you forever! I'll block out all your signals and you'll just fumble around in this world by yourself!"

"You forget that I studied signal processing. Your block won't help; I'll always find you." Seeing that Sakuragi didn't reply, Rukawa added, "Sorry, I'll be sure to let you know next time." He flipped through the panel's functions, wanting to say thank you to Dr. Wang, when it suddenly occurred to him that she might not be able to perceive the information on this frequency band.

"She can't sense it, but she should be happy for you. I still can't believe you did this for me...."

"Not just for you. By the way, 42 wants to start an information war, right? Kiyota was one of the earliest members of the 42, but he was shot dead by the radical party in an internal conflict."

"How did you...."

"Becoming information has greatly enhanced my speed to search and read information. Now if you're in any kind of trouble, at least there are two of us working together to come up with a solution."

"I want to see you."

"Address?"

"The intersection of East 14th Street and Union Square East. You can identify me, but I'll be waiting for you under the streetlight if you're not very good at the new features."

"OK."

Seeing that Rukawa was still flipping through the functions over and over, Sakuragi said, "Connect me and I'll operate it for you."

After connecting successfully, it took less than a second to reach the junction Sakuragi said. A fit figure leaned against the streetlight. Rukawa stepped forward quickly, gazed at him and touched him.

"You do realize that my image, temperature, and touch are all information, right?"

"Yeah."

"This intersection is a big interchange station. Let's go to my place. Follow me." Sakuragi gave his hand to Rukawa.

"I thought going to the other place is to enter the address and arrive there right away."

"Sometimes I'm an intelligence who likes traditional things." Sakuragi took Ryuukawa's hand and ran. Flashing neon lights besides the road kept going back.

"Welcome to my world!" Sakuragi turned on the light, reached for wine bottle and glass, and turned on the TV, "You haven't eaten dinner yet, have you? I'll go see if there are any more ingredients in the fridge."

"Does information need to eat?"

"In terms of maintaining function, no. However, eating is still a ritual, a memory and a pleasure. It's like intelligence gradually replacing the programmer work you do. Manual programming can still give you a strong sense of satisfaction."

Rukawa nodded, sat down on the couch ans switched TV channels.

[The epidemic in the United States continues to worsen, with confirmed cases rising to 640,000 and deaths exceeding 30,000...]

"Hana, did you design this?"

"What?" Sakuragi went into the living room holding a plate with cut chicken roll, "How can that be possible? I'm responsible for the initial setting. This is a chain reaction after subsequent human activities stirring up the timeline."

"How do you know which ones are your initial settings and which ones are chain reactions?" Rukawa made gestures to Sakuragi, telling him to sit between his legs.

"I can show you the high-dimensional universe, where we can see parallel worlds with same and different initial setting. Different development and ending." Sakuragi put down the dinner plate, "But you'll have to tell me the specific things so that I could find an optimal route."

"The thing that I know you." Rukawa got up and pushed Sakuragi down on sofa.

"Do you know that information can have multiple orgasm just by imagining making love to each other..." Sakuragi held Rukawa's face with his hands and stared his eyes.

"I'm also a person who likes traditional things." Rukawa sealed Sakuragi's mouth, grabbed him by the legs and lifted him up.

"Hana." Rukawa twisted his head to gaze at the person around him, recalling the dimensional crossing, the intertwining of souls and the complete spiritual climax. The clock on the nightstand said it was three in the morning.

"Hmmm...been a while since I've been so comfortable... "Sakuragi rolled over, with his red head rubbing against Rukawa's chest incessantly.

"Hana, you want to guard the world, and you also want the world to guard you."

"What......."

"You want regularity to maintain order within you."

"I am a scientist......."

Rukawa sighed, "At least I've confirmed one thing. No, two things." He thrust his hand into the quilt, causing Sakuragi to gasp uncontrollably.


	7. 度假 Vacation

“花。”流川从屏幕前转过头，“2020年的问题，我已经修复好了。按照你的初始设定，最近十年年不会发生战争了。”  
“那真的太好了！”樱木弯下腰盯着改好的代码，“这几天辛苦你了，咱们放个假吧！你想去哪个宇宙都可以跟我说。”  
“好，不过暂时不用了。我想再多花一些时间做些优化，比如科技和文化的发展程度，尤其是医疗和平权。”  
“是有什么事情在你身上发生过吗？”  
“不是什么大事。我就是看不惯现实生活中一些没有道德的行为，那些人不配被称为人。”  
“你是说最近爆出来的科技公司收集用户数据并干预他们决策吗？虽然我自己也是个科学家，但现在相当一部分科技工作者还真是挺没有道德的。”  
“因为不是每个工程师都能遇到造物主一样的智能。如果人人都这样搞，这个世界要完，不管你初始设定得多么完美。”  
“要完吗。”过去的场景在樱木的脑海里闪回。

那时候他还是硅谷一线科技公司的工程师，同组的仙道在一个晴朗的下午约他去食堂吃饭。饭后两人在园区里散步，仙道眺望着夕阳下的山脉，“有些事情令我不安。”  
“什么事情？”  
“不久后的一天，我们会被更高级的智能取代。”  
“啊？什么意思？你怎么知道的？”  
仙道伸过手，手指穿过樱木的红发，樱木稍微向后躲了一下。“人与人之间的化学反应，大概也是事先被编写好的吧。”  
“你看起来很忧伤。开心点啊！生活多么美好。天气好，工作好，人类的未来也会发展得越来越好。”  
“你体验过那种明明已经预见到未来会发生的危险，可是自己无能为力的感觉吗？未来不会好了。”  
第二天，樱木就在内部通讯看到仙道辞职的消息，他自己也于第二年跳槽到另一家公司。几年后他听说仙道回波士顿当了大学老师，他问仙道是不是少挣很多钱，仙道回答他说比起钱他更在乎自由。  
“你下一次见到他就是在新闻上看到他在自己家中死亡。”流川说。  
“啊谁让你看的！”樱木跳了起来，飞快地在面板上找着关闭分享的选项。  
“你忘关了。”流川把自己跟樱木连接，替他关闭了分享，“还是放个假吧，出去散散心。”

两人回到了流川转换前的世界，在熟悉的51街漫步着。“你想去哪个地方吗，还是随便转转？”樱木调出地图。  
“小花还好吗？”  
“小花知道你的事情，你爸妈现在在养它。它刚到新家的时候每天都躲在角落里，也不怎么吃饭。不过现在已经很粘人了，你爸妈都很喜欢。”樱木调出小花的视频给流川看。  
“转换的事情我没有告诉爸妈。”  
“没关系，他们知道你在做什么。我昨天刚跟他们联系过，他们挺理解你、支持你的。”  
“你跟他们联系过了。”  
“这个世界上有很多人在乎你。对了，小三我也联系过了。你们公司内部斗争越来越严重，他说他很羡慕你，因为你一直坚持做着自己喜欢的事情。他还说他辞职后想先休息一段时间，和女朋友办婚礼度蜜月。我跟他说你不是也一直坚持着自己喜欢的人吗，他说他要感谢你启发了他。啊，你看天都亮了，你想吃早餐吗？地铁站旁边那家星巴克怎么样？”  
“可以。”两人走了进去。  
“南瓜面包和拿铁，对吗？不过我知道一个特别好吃的新品。”樱木跟服务员说，“两份鸡蛋沙拉番茄面包三明治，两份摩卡。”  
“樱木。”  
“嗯？”樱木把三明治和摩卡递给流川，“搭配起来更好吃啊，你尝尝。”  
“你有那种想要和人组成家庭的欲望吗？”  
“家庭的定义有很多种吧，跟人的定义一样。我觉得呢，一起努力、互相信任、为彼此考虑的人就是家人。”他一边说着，一边侧过头舔掉了流川嘴角的沙拉酱，“当然，我们永远都有选择定义的自由。”

"Hana." Rukawa turned his head from the screen, "I've fixed the problem for 2020. By your initial setting, there won't be a war in the coming ten years."

"That's great!" Sakuragi bent down to stare at the changed code, "It's been hard days for you. Let's take a vacation! You can talk to me about whatever universe you want to go to."

"Okay, but not for now. I'd like to spend more time performing some optimizations, like the level of technological and cultural development, especially health care and equal rights."

"Is there something that had happened to you?"

"It's not something important. I just can't stand some of the unethical behaviors in real life, those people don't deserve to be called human."

"You mean recently some media revealed tech companies collecting user data and interfering with their decisions? Although I'm a scientist myself, a significant portion of tech workers are really quite unethical these days."

"Because not every engineer can encounter an intelligence like the Creator. The world is going to end if everyone does this, no matter how perfect is your initial setup."

"Going to end, huh." Scenes from the past flashed back in Sakuragi's mind.

Back in the old days, he was an engineer at a first-tiertech company at Silicon Valley. Sendoh was in the same group with him. One sunny afternoon Sendoh asked him out for a dinner in cafeteria. The two took a walk around the park after the meal. Sendoh looked out over the mountains under the setting sun, "Something's making me unsettled."

"What is it?"

"One day soon, we will be replaced by more advanced intelligence."

"Huh? What do you mean? How do you know that?"

Sendoh reached over and ran his fingers through Sakuragi's red hair. Sakuragi ducked back slightly. "The chemistry between people, presumably, was also pre-written."

"You look so sad. Be happy! Life is good, the weather is good, the work is good, and the future of mankind is going to get better."

"Have you ever experienced the feeling of being helpless when you have clearly foreseen the dangers that will occur in the future? The future won't be good."

The next day, Sakuragi saw the news of Sendoh quitted in the internal newsletter, and he himself went to another company the following year. A few years later when he heard that Sendoh had returned to Boston to become a college teacher, he asked if he was making a lot less money, and Sendoh replied that he cared more about freedom than money.

"And the next time you saw him was when you see him on the news, dead in his own home." Rukawa said.

"Ah! who let you look at my thoughts!" Sakuragi jumped up, darted around the panel looking for the option to turn off sharing.

"You forgot to turn it off." Rukawa connected himself to Sakuragi and turned off the sharing for him, "Maybe it's better to take a vacation so that you could be happy."

The two returned to the world before Rukawa converted. They strolled along the familiar 51st Street. "Do you want to go somewhere specific, or just take a random walk?" Sakuragi pulled up the map.

"How's Hana-chan?"

"Hana-chan knows about you, and your parents are taking care of it now. When they first arrived in their new home, they hid in a corner every day and didn't eat much. But they're very clingy now, and your parents love them." Sakuragi found the video and showed it to Rukawa.

"I didn't tell Mom and Dad about my conversion."

"It's okay, they know what you're doing. I just contacted them yesterday and they are quite understanding and supportive."

"You've been in touch with them."

"There are a lot of people in this world who care about you. By the way, I've also contacted Mi-chan. The internal conflict within your company is getting worse, and he said he envied you because you keep doing what you love. He also said he wanted to take some time off after quitting his job, so that he could held a wedding for his girlfriend and have a honeymoon with her. I told him he also kept loving someone he liked too, and he said he wanted to thank you for inspiring him. Ah, you see, it's dawn. Do you want to have breakfast? How about that Starbucks next to the subway station?"

"Okay." They walked in.

"Pumpkin bread and latte, right? But I know a super delicious new product." Sakuragi said to the waiter, "Two egg salad tomato bread sandwiches, and two cups of mocha."

"Sakuragi."

"Huh?" Sakuragi handed the sandwich and mocha to Rukawa, "It tastes even better together, try it."

"Do you have the desire to start a family with someone?"

"There are many definitions of family, like human. In my opinion, people who work together, trust each other and think about each other are family." He spoke as he tilted his head and licked the salad dressing off from the corner of Rukawa's mouth, "Of course, we always have the freedom to choose our definition."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 完结撒花！  
> Finally finished!


End file.
